Rugby Canada  – Record Canadian Rugby two-day crowd of 76,058 on hand for second annual HSBC Canada Sevens as England defeats South Africa to capture Cup Trophy; Canada’s Men’s Team falls to Argentina in 5th place semi-final but moves to 10th place on HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series

VANCOUVER, CANADA – Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team finished seventh at the HSBC Canada Sevens after defeat to Argentina in the fifth place semi-final on Sunday at BC Place. 

With wins against Scotland and Russia on Day one, Canada advanced to their third cup quarter in their past four HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series tournament but were beaten by South Africa earlier in the day. This weekend was Canada’s third Cup round appearance in the last four tournaments, moving them to 10th place on the World Series through six tournaments. 

Adam Zaruba was ruled out of Day two due to injury and was replaced by Luke Bradley. Nathan Hirayama also tied Phil Mack’s all-time scoring record for Canada as both men now sit on 973 career HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series points.

England would eventually defeat South Africa 19-7 to capture the Cup Final to close out the tournament. 

What Head Coach Damian McGrath said:

“We’ve got three weeks now until we play again. It’s all hands on deck now. I thought when we were healthy I hope we gave a glimpse of what this group is capable of. We appreciated every minute of support the crowd gave us and I hope they appreciate what we did.”

What Captain Harry Jones said:

“It’s tough. We didn’t finish the chances we had. Not making any excuses. I’m proud of the boys. The boys put their hands up and put in a gutsy effort. You don’t play the game to come seventh, you play to win. There’s a lot of disappointed guys on the team. We went 5-1 last year but we’re a much better team this year and we showed that. Damian has done a lot of work with us, simple stuff, but the team’s really gelling and it’s paying dividends.”

CANADA 7-36 SOUTH AFRICA

It was a masterful performance from Neil Powell’s men as they powered to a convincing win over Canada.

Tries from Rosko Specman and Siviwe Soyizwapi gave the Blitzboks a quick 12-0 lead before Canada found life through a Justin Douglas try. Nathan Hirayam’s conversion gave him 973 career points, tying him with Phil Mack for Canada’s all-time points scoring record.

However, it was all South Africa from there on out. Chris Dry’s try pushed the lead to 17-7 at the break before Cecil Afrika, Soyizwapi and Sandile Ngcobo completed the win.

CANADA 5-12 ARGENTINA

It was heartbreak for Canada as they narrowly lost 12-5 in Argentina in their fifth place semi-final. After sustained pressure, Canada finally opened the scoring as Justin Douglas touched down in the corner for a 5-0 lead that they took into the break.

Frano Sabato’s try tied things at 5-5 after he gathered his own kick ahead before Nicolas Menendez scored the eventual game-winner for a 12-5 victory.

Canada’s Men’s Sevens Squad for Canada Sevens (Name, club, hometown):

Phil Berna – (UBC Thunderbirds) Vancouver, BC

Luke Bradley – UVic Vikes/Port Alberni Black Sheep (Port Alberni, BC)

Justin Douglas – (Abbotsford RFC/BC Bears) Abbotsford, BC

Mike Fuailefau – (Castaway Wanderers/BC Bears) Victoria, BC

Lucas Hammond – (UVIC Vikes) Toronto, ON

Nathan Hirayama – (UVic Vikes/BC Bears) Richmond, BC

Harry Jones – Captain (Capilano RFC) Vancouver, BC

Isaac Kaay  – (UVic Vikes) Kamloops, BC

Pat Kay – (Castaway Wanderers/BC Bears) Duncan, BC

Luke McCloskey – (Castaway Wanderers) Victoria, BC

John Moonlight – (James Bay AA/Ontario Blues) Pickering, ON

Matt Mullins – (Queen’s University/Ontario Blues) Belleville, ON

Adam Zaruba – (Capilano RFC/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC

Canada’s Canada Sevens Day 1 Schedule:

Canada 28-15 Scotland 

Canada 26-5 Russia

Canada 14-15 New Zealand 

Canada’s Canada Sevens Day 2 Schedule:

Canada 7 – 36 South Africa 

Canada 5 – 12 Argentina

About Rugby Canada

Rugby Canada is the national governing body of the sport of rugby union in Canada.  Rugby Union has a long history in Canada dating back to its initial appearance in the 1860s.  Since 1974, Rugby Canada has been a permanent fixture on the global rugby scene, including trips to each of the eight Men’s Rugby World Cups and seven Women’s Rugby World Cups. As a regular on the Men’s and Women’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, Canada continues to climb the world rankings and challenge the dominant rugby nations in both versions of the game.  Canada’s Women’s Rugby Sevens Team also made history in 2016, capturing the first-ever Bronze Medal at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Rugby Canada has also put a renewed emphasis on developing its junior programs to support the growth of rugby at the grass-roots level and to ensure there are elite programs for prospering young rugby players to become involved.  Our goal is to develop and train competitive teams for the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup in Ireland, the 2018 Sevens World Cup in San Francisco, the 2019 Men’s Rugby World Cup in Japan and 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.

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Bryan Kelly  I  Manager, Communications and Media Relations  I  Rugby Canada  I  3024 Glen Lake Road  I Langford, British Columbia, Canada V9B 4B4  I  Tel. 250.418.8998 ext. 314  I  Fax 250.386.3810  I Cell. 250.216.5272 | bkelly@rugbycanada.ca I www.rugbycanada.ca